The candidates did not challenge or debate one another, but it was apparent that neither the incumbents nor their challengers agree on everything.

Talking about suspension rates in city schools, Ms. Colorio said she wants more autonomy in each school. She said principals should have more leeway in deciding how to handle suspensions, and said teachers should be better empowered to speak up about students with problems so they can be directed to programs before things get out of hand.

Ms. O'Connell Novick said the data on suspensions can lead to "apples to oranges" comparisons. For example, she noted that city schools have not expelled students for years, but the numbers compared the city to other school districts that do expel students.

In tackling challenges that students for whom English is a second language, Mr. O'Connell said he supports more structured immersion programs, and also pointed to the success of the two-way bilingual program that produces groups of students fluent in two languages.

Ms. Ramirez, assistant director of the Latino Education Institute at Worcester State University, said the district needs to improve early wraparound services while keeping parents front and center in the process. Cultural understanding is also key, she said.

"We need to service those children through the lens of agencies that know how to broker that culture," she said.

Talking about reinvigorating the idea of opening schools up more for community use, Mr. Monfredo said that's something he did when he was an elementary school principal. He said schools need to seek out partnerships in the community.

Ms. O'Connell Novick said one of the first things that needs to happen is a resolution of the argument between school administration and the community about how open to the community those schools are. She said she doesn't support opening schools for programs that are narrowly focused around improving MCAS scores. She said she was much more supportive of more typical community uses like Girl Scouts or a community basketball league.

Talking about making the teaching population better reflect the diverse student population, Ms. Biancheria said it's important to also seek out committed, qualified candidates. She said she supports recent efforts by the administration to go out "across the country, recruiting what we need in our schools."

She said she also supported having career fairs in the high schools that involve teachers telling students about what made them want to go into education.

Asked what the candidates could do to continue to improve student performance in the district's Level 3 and Level 4 schools, Mr. Arbetter said he wants to stop policies that evaluate teachers primarily on test scores, and would encourage teaching students how to think critically, "not to a test."

Regarding the implementation of a sex education curriculum, Mr. Arbetter, at 22 the most recently enrolled city student among the candidates, said he supports such an initiative. He said he would support a program that was LGBT-inclusive. School is about learning, and that includes students learning about their bodies, he added.

"This needs to be mandatory in the curriculum," Mr. Arbetter said.

Mr. Cohane, co-chairman of the Citywide Parent Planning Advisory Council, said he supports the idea of a sex ed curriculum, but said it will be important to gather community input before implementing it. Ms. Ramirez said she supported it, but only on the condition that it was carried out with parental permission.

Ms. Colorio said she supports the creation of an exam school for accelerated learners in the district. It's incredible motivation for students, and opens up opportunities for them. But Mr. Foley said he doesn't support them. He said it hasn't been proven that exam schools lead to great gains for the students who enroll in them, and said it negatively impacts the schools they transfer out of.

Mr. Foley noted they are expensive programs that serve a small percentage of the district's students, and Mr. Monfredo agreed. Ms. O'Connell Novick agreed with Mr. Foley and Mr. Monfredo from the cost standpoint, but said making an exam school succeed depends on whether it could be implemented correctly.

Mr. Cohane said strengthening the home-school relationship is an important part of his campaign. He said that as a member of the site council at Worcester Arts Magnet School, he has put a lot of effort into improving the parent connection in the school's site improvement plan.

"We looked at specific items," Mr. Cohane said. "One of the frustrations I faced was when new methodology or curriculum was being put in, parents were not familiar with what was being promoted."

The election for the six School Committee seats is Nov. 5. The seventh seat on the committee goes to the mayor, who is chairman.